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Cochlear implants change couples' lives

By Terry Meyers

For the Headlight

Posted:
07/30/2013 06:05:56 PM MDT

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Ellen and James "Doc" O´Connell are eager to share their miracle story in hope of helping others. Ellen has been fitted with Cochlear implants and has gone from not being able to hear to hearing her grandchildren for the first time. (null)

Ellen O'Connell has lived in a world that has been mostly silent since the young age of 2. That world has changed 180 degrees for she and her husband James "Doc" in ways they never expected when she became a candidate for a Cochlear implant, also know as the bionic ear, four years ago.

"When I was 2 I got the measles," Ellen said. "My neighbor was calling me to come have cookies when she discovered that I couldn't hear her. The measles had caused nerve damage to my hearing."

Ellen has spent most of her life as an introvert, always counting on Doc to fill her in on what people around her were saying. Although Ellen can lip read, surrounding noises often caused her to miss parts of conversations with her hearing aids that did not work all that well.

"We have been married 46 years and it is just a miracle," Doc said. "I have helped her all her life. Now she tells me to leave her alone. I can do this."

Four years ago, Ellen received the first of two Cochlear implants. Two years later, she received the second implant. Ellen first went in for an evaluation where it was discovered she had severe to profound hearing loss. Her audiologist, Dr. Horn in Albuquerque, scheduled Ellen for surgery. The surgery is an outpatient procedure that took two hours to complete with an hour of recovery time added.

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The implant is a surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of sound. It is placed under a person's skin just behind the ear. The implant consists of microphones which process environmental sounds, a speech processor which filters certain sounds in order to prioritize audible speech, and a transmitter which transmits processed sound signals across the skin to the implanted device.

A receiver and stimulator is attached to a bone just beneath the skin.

These devices are able to send signals through a electric impulse through an internal cable to what is called electrodes. The electrodes then travel directly to the brain to the auditory nerve system -- and thus -- the patient can hear.

"It was pretty cool to hear," Ellen said. "I can hear the hummingbirds, I can hear my grandchildren, my kids and my husband.

"I can go to a concert and change the setting that allows me to hear just the music, or I can set the device to block out noisy environments.

"There is a setting for background noise and one for everyday general hearing."

"I still get goose bumps when I come home and tell her I am home and she answers me because she hears me," Doc said. "It is still very emotional for both of us."

Doc is a retired Deming dentist.

Ellen and Doc are available to anyone that would like to know more about the Cochlear implants. They are eager to share information about the implants as well as their story of the joy of hearing again.

"I am so pleased with my personal miracle," Ellen remarked. "I want people to know there is hope out there for those that have hearing aids that no longer do the job for them." "We are here to help anyone from two years old to 80-plus."

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